Categories - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 37

cets, menus, page titles and copy, product metadata, messaging, and advertising across chan-
nels. Plus, ontologies are embodied in org charts, and vice versa. We shape our taxonomies;
thereafter they shape us. For all these reasons, the detailed work of taxonomy design must be in-
formed by the big picture. In semantics and in health, to classify without context is gross mal-
practice.
Years ago, I consulted with one of Canada's regional health authorities. On their site, the only
way to browse was by bodily system. They'd used a taxonomy created for doctors and nurses to
serve the public. And it didn't work. In our research, most people couldn't find diabetes. The
taxonomy failed to meet the needs of its new audience.
Figure 2-13. A taxonomy designed for health professionals.
So we added new navigation, including common conditions, an A-Z list of disorders, a symp-
tom checker, and sections especially for men, women, teens, and kids. We used multiple ontolo-
gies in service of the objectives.
When I worked with the National Cancer Institute in the United States in 2003, wayfinding with-
in cancer.gov was my client's objective. But I asked hard questions about findability via Google
and added SEO into the mix. To serve people and search engines, we listed major types of can-
cer on the home page. And we enabled our human users to browse by bodily system, narrow by
audience, search the full text, or consult an A-Z list. A decade later, the design has changed, the
content is updated, but the information architecture remains untouched. Well-built structures
stand the test of time. That's why it's so important we get ontologies and taxonomies right.